Dear great business minds, turn my co. around (Long)

[maxtower]

This is a marketing problem. You just need to find the most effective way to get more students into your school. The biggest thing that jumps out to me from your description is that your classes aren't full. From the description it sounds like if your classes were full, then you could make money.
The cheapest route I can think of is marching yourself down to the school and talking to guidance counselors (or whatever the equivalent in Korea is). You just need to do a little selling. Tell them that the advantage you have over your competitors is smaller class sizes. Is there a PTA in Korea? Go to that and sell the parents, pass out flyers. Go down to the Swimming or Music schools and get into some marketing partnerships with them where they refer their kids to you and you do the same for them. All these are cheap ways of getting your name out there a little and attracting more students. You just need to get a little creative and think of stuff like this.

[theclock]

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Have you created budgets and sales forecasts? Look to see where you can save money and set some goals.

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If my numbers are correct, I will run out of my money by July this year. Only place now where I have room to save is to lay off more teachers, which in turn will leave some students with no teachers. It'll save me a little money as labor is the highest cost to run my business. I am not selling a physical product, I am selling a service. My classes are not full enough.

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How many students does your school enroll concurrently and how many do they go through per month/quarter/year.

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I have roughly 125 students. Most stay for at least 1-3 years.


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What about your competitors, what are their numbers for those statistics. How does your pricing compare to theirs.

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Pricing, we are about the same. As for stats, I have no idea and would love to have access to some. I sense that a few of them are profitable. They have a more aggressive marketing approach than me. My hands tied, don't have enough cash flow to invest in alot marketing.

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Is their something about your school's location that might be turning off potential customers. Does the building look like a death trap.

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As far as I see it, not at all. I am near everything, supermarkets, malls, have easy access to parking. Location I know is not a concern. Weakness in student recruitment is where I am losing.

[theclock]

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This is a marketing problem. You just need to find the most effective way to get more students into your school. The biggest thing that jumps out to me from your description is that your classes aren't full. From the description it sounds like if your classes were full, then you could make money.
The cheapest route I can think of is marching yourself down to the school and talking to guidance counselors (or whatever the equivalent in Korea is). You just need to do a little selling. Tell them that the advantage you have over your competitors is smaller class sizes. Is there a PTA in Korea? Go to that and sell the parents, pass out flyers. Go down to the Swimming or Music schools and get into some marketing partnerships with them where they refer their kids to you and you do the same for them. All these are cheap ways of getting your name out there a little and attracting more students. You just need to get a little creative and think of stuff like this.

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Thanks Max,

I'll be checking the thread in a few hours again. It's late here now and I must get in a few hours of sleep.

Thank you for the post. You hit the point, lack of creativity and marketing is killing me.

[Nick-Zack]

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I now own a small business (school tutoring English) in a foreign country (Korea) I’m not Korean and barely speak the language.

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This is the problem right here in a nutshell. The only way that I see you getting out of the problem is to cut your labor costs. You can either teach some classes yourself, I am guessing your language skills stop this, or you have to combine some of the classes. Is it possible to give a discount to some of the students to move into other classes?

[theclock]

Teaching there as a foreign teacher was my original position at this school. Only English is allowed in the classroom. I do teach also daily. I have taken on most of the load myself. Average day for me now is going to the school at 10am and leaving 1am. I do all my paperwork after all my classes are finished. My last class with a group of high schoolers finishes at 10:30pm.

Long days, but I don't mind. Nobody put me in this position but me so I have no regrets. Even if my business fails I have learned a great deal in the past 5 years of being an owner. Tough part is going back to my native country and starting over again.

Not willing to give up yet, I will try some desperate moves in the next coming weeks. The idea of trying to persuade other specialty schools to work with me is plan 1. I need help making an attractive offer that is beneficial for both parties. I also need a decent pitch. I am terrible on the phone, my secretary will do most of the talking. If she get some appointments that would be a good start. Face to face meetings are much more comfortable for me. Tips on the phone, anyone?

[WarBus]

Questions and suggestions:

When someone signs up for a class, is there a contract for a certain number of months?

It sounds like you have cut labor to the bare minimum and are unable to combine any more classes. So stop thinking of it as a variable expense. It is a fixed cost much like rent.

You don't have the cash for traditional marketing. Turn your teachers, students, and parents into your marketing team. Make the incentives big.

Teachers:
Offer them $x per month of the tuition cost for each student they refer. Example: If they get a new student to sign up for a $100 a month program. Give the teacher a $20 a month bonus as long as the student is paying tuition.

Students & parents:
Offer students/parents $x a month discount on tuition for each new student they refer. Example: If they get a new student to sign up for a $100 a month program. Give a $20 a month discount on tuition. Make the discount cumulative. Five referrals of a $100 class would give them $100 off their tuition up to a 100% discount potentially making the classes free. How long the discounts would last is dependent on if you have contracts for the programs.

It doesn't matter that you would be making less money per student. You are nowhere near capacity so your goal is to fill seats and increase your cash flow. If you only get ten new students, it is a huge step in the right direction.

Flyers:
Create packets of flyers for the teachers and a packet of flyers for students/parents.
Have a meeting with the teachers, explain the teacher packet and incentives. Include a cover letter explaining the bonus incentive.
Give each sudent/parent a flyer packet. Iclude a cover letter explaining the tuition discount incentive.

Flyers:
Promote the strong points of your school. Low teacher/student ratio, etc.
Offer an incentive in the flyer for new students. First month free with x month contract, free books, etc. Try different incentives of similar value to see which works best.

Tuition:
Double check the pricing of competitive schools (ignore the big expensive one). Make sure you're not too cheap. If the other schools have similar classes for $100 a month and you are $80, raise your prices. Grandfather in the pricing of current students.

Snacks & Drinks:
Do you have snacks & drink machines in the school? If not, and you are able to, get them. They won't bring in much, but any extra helps.

Appearance:
You have been focusing on money issues. How does the school look? This includes the inside, ouside, halls, classrooms, offices, teachers, and you. Make sure everythiing is tip-top. No clutter, no cobwebs, nothing old and dusty, everyone dressed appropriately. Paint it, pitch it, or fix it. Since most people have a blind eye to their usual surroundings, you might want a friend to visit and look for imperfections.

I don't know how viable the suggestions are for you, but they might give you some ideas to help improve your situation.

[VeryTnA]

I think you can turn this around in a very short amount of time! Two things immediately come to mind. One you need your students working for you. Second you need a full time sales person.

Change your referal program. When someone brings you a new student pay them in cash during class. Hand them the money and a coupon for double bonus on the next student they bring. Also give the new student a double bonus coupon. Make this a big deal for all to see. Gererate some excitment. Crunch some numbers on the exact bonus, but I think 50% off next months class is way too high.

Hire a full time (mostly commission) sales person. This should be someone with connections to large groups. Someone who knows and has daily contact with lots of people. Pay them on a sliding scale. Set it up so they don't make much until the "10th" new student and then get a big bonus.

Out market the "Big School" with a smarter approach. Your school gives personal attention. You don't send your students off with software to teach themself. Your teachers are there to personally help the students!

Work on you marketing everyday. Keep it plan and simple.

[elus2]

how many concurrent students do you need to be able to continue the business?

[theclock]

DAM! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Just woke up and immediately came to check the thread. Have to head straight out to work now for a full day of classes.

Later on tonight, I'll have a response to the queries. Just wanted to say "Thank you" after reading some of the new suggestions I feel alot more confident. Most importantly, I now have a map. Before I was blind man with no cane searching for success. Direction and focus is so important.

Some of the suggestions are basic business fundamentals and common sense. I've read alot of business books and play the stock market. Some of the tips I already know but fail to execute probably due to amnesia. lol. My brain has been so tuned in on one area that I've lost track. Good reminders for me.

Thanks again for the ideas and great suggestions. Really appreciate it. Who says strangers never help others out? :-)

[Sniper]

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Who says strangers never help others out?

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Someone who hasn't visited 2+2 [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]